At some point in the past week the Red Bluff 11-and 12-year-old Little League All-Stars earned the distinction.

They’re not the first. They won’t be the last.

But as of right now that’s exactly what they are -?our boys.

It started just with the team’s immediate family, but after winning tournaments in Redding and Eureka the questions have spread across the community.

How’d our boys do?

Did our boys win?

The Red Bluff they wear across their young chests isn’t just where they’re from anymore.

It’s who they represent. With each homer, with each catch, our boys bring an entire city pride.

That brings a smile. Actually many thousands of smiles.

You need not know them on a personal level, because you know them in the backdrop of our home town.

These are our boys who visit our movie theatre, who attend our schools, who play in our streets.

They play what used to be our game.

At some point over the years it went from being a game, to being a sport, to being a business of millionaires and their billionaire bosses.

Sometimes that pessimistic attitude goes away for awhile.

It did last autumn, it may again this fall.

Our game can make us feel like boys again.

The Red Bluff All-Stars don’t need to feel like boys.

They still are.

After games they continue to run around. They don’t even need bases.

They trade in snow cone catches for actual snow cones.

Baseball isn’t their past time, it’s just part of their time.

We know our boys in ways we don’t know major league players.

We know them as Wesley, as D-Bo, or maybe just as Aaron and Courtney’s kid .

We know them as classmates and neighbors.

We know them as our boys.

——— Daily News Sports Editor Rich Greene can be reached at 527-2151, ext. 109 or by email at sports@redbluffdailynews.com. Except today where he can be reached at Chico Eastside Little League watching our boys play at 6 p.m. Hope to see you there.